Grab and Go Breakfast Station

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My son started his senior year of high school this year.

Usually on a big day like the first day of school, I’d get up early to make him a good breakfast. I don’t care that he drives, or that he’s going to be a legal adult in a little over a month. He’s still my baby.

But this year I didn’t make him breakfast. Because I was sick. As soon as I got well, I decided to put together this Grab and Go Breakfast Station for emergencies. Now let me be clear, this is NOT intended to be an every day kind of thing, because for the most part, Real Food isn’t shelf stable. But if my teenager or I get up late and don’t have time for a hot breakfast, any of these things can be prepared in under a minute and they’re a much better choice than fast food or going without breakfast!

Setting up a little area in your home with a family schedule, coffee station (if you drink coffee, of course) and some quick, easy non perishable breakfast food can make your mornings run much smoother.

Options

The breakfast options I came up with were:

*Smoothies

*Instant Oatmeal with Dried Fruit and Nuts

*Breakfast Bars

*Superfood drink packets (intended to be additional to the above foods)

Some things I tried to consider:

Protein

I wanted to make sure there was adequate protein in all the breakfast options available for an almost-grown teen. Most shelf stable foods that are marketed as breakfast foods have a ton of sugar and not much protein. That’s the opposite of what you should eat in the morning! I didn’t want him to be starving by 10am. That’s why I included a protein powder and gelatin. I add both to my smoothies. Both can also be added to the instant oatmeal cups. The Wolfberry Crisp bars are also high in protein. We don’t typically eat soy, and they do contain soy, but it’s non-GMO and not sprayed with pesticides so we didn’t feel like it was the end of the world if we grab one in a pinch.

Fiber

Fiber also helps you stay full, and it’s easier to concentrate on school work when you’re full. I made high-fiber individual frozen fruit packets for the smoothies, and dried fruit added fiber to the oatmeal. The Wolfberry Crisp bars are a good source of fiber on their own.

Packability

I wanted everything to be as portable as possible, so I included utensils and brown paper bags in my setup.